Contemporary perspectives of the child in action: An investigation into children’s connectedness with, and contribution to, the world around them

Childcare within Australia has undergone significant reform as a result of the implementation of the nationally mandated Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework [EYLF] (Department for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. 2009. Belonging, Being and Becoming. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations). The EYLF articulates contemporary perspectives of the child through its principles, practices and learning outcomes. Educators are required to promote these principles, practices and learning outcomes with children aged from birth to 5 years. This paper reports the findings from a research project that sought to investigate how educators applied their understanding of learning outcome two of the EYLF (children are connected with and contribute to their world). The focus of this research was educators working with children aged two to three years within childcare centres operating on school sites, in metropolitan Western Australian. The research design was qualitative and situated within the interpretivist paradigm. Observations were used as the method for gathering data and these were analysed through a process of coding. This paper presents the observational findings of educators’ practices within learning outcome two. Composite vignettes from the voice of the child are included to present the observational findings. In centralising the voice of the child, contemporary perspectives are made explicit

Twenty-First Century Labor Law: Striking the Right Balance Between Workplace Civility Rules that Accommodate Equal Employment Opportunity Obligations and the Loss of Protection for Concerted Activities Under the National Labor Relations Act

Employees who engage in protected concerted activities relating to work generally are shielded from discipline by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Where otherwise protected work-related activity involves profanity or offensive speech or actions, whether in or out of the workplace, on a picket line, or on social media, such may violate employer civility rules and/or equal employment opportunity laws. Important interests are at stake, including for employers to maintain a safe, discrimination-free workplace; and for employees to exercise their right to communicate about workplace matters. This Article analyzes recent cases on the question when offensive employee conduct loses NLRA protection, highlighting the National Labor Relations Board’s reconsideration and revision of its standards in the General Motors case, July 2020. The Article analyzes the prior context-dependent tests applied by the NLRB to assess whether an employee should lose the protection of the Act, finding these tests more than adequate to balance the important public policies underlying both the NLRA and equal employment opportunity laws, as well as employer and employee rights to manage and work in a place with a desired level of consideration for others. The Article concludes that the Board’s new application of the forty-year-old Wright Line standard to these cases increases management rights and latitude at the expense of hindering employee rights to gather together to discuss and object to problems in the workplace

Employment Discrimination Claims Remain Valid Despite After-Acquired Evidence of Employee Wrongdoing

This article explores the legal practice area of employment discrimination and adverse decisions based on after-acquired evidence. A division among the circuits courts arose concerning the impact of after-acquired evidence of employee wrongdoing upon an employer\u27s liability for employment discrimination. When pre-trial discovery unveiled a separate nondiscriminatory reason for termination, numerous circuits allowed such previously unknown information to constitute a legitimate basis for the employment decision, following the model of a mixed-motive discharge. A trend developed however, among other circuits that after-acquired evidence of employee misconduct should not prevent the establishment of employer liability, but that it should be considered at the remedies phase. The United States Supreme Court affirmed the latter approach in /McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Company